Essential Insights on GIST and Gleevec for Patients

Dr. Ajay Gupta of the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York, recently sat down for an interview with CURE in order to discuss the basics of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), highlighting what patients with disease should know and spotlighting crucial treatment advancements.

Gupta, a clinician and researcher, is a pediatric oncologist with the Roswell Park Oishei Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Program, and he has secondary appointments in the Department of Medicine and the Department of Cancer Genetics and Genomics. He specializes in sarcomas in children, adolescents and young adults (AYA), with a specific interest in Ewing sarcoma, osteosarcoma and soft tissue sarcomas. Additionally sees pediatric and adult patients as well as adults with neurofibromatosis (NF) in Roswell Park’s NF Multidisciplinary Clinic.

He discussed the advent of Gleevec (imatinib). As defined by the National Cancer Instittue on its website, Gleevec works by blocking certain proteins made by the BCR::ABL1, PDGFR, or c-KIT oncogene, which may help keep cancer cells from growing and may kill them. It is a type of treatment known as a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, or TKI.

Transcript

Can you explain what a gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is and how it is typically treated?

Gastrointestinal stromal tumor is a solid tumor that we usually see in the stomach, but it can occur anywhere else along the gastrointestinal tract. Sometimes we'll see it along the small intestine, but sometimes we'll see something called extragastric intestinal stromal tumors, or AGIST. Overall, they aren’t just found around the stomach, but the stomach is certainly the most common location for them.

The other main thing to know is GISTs are characterized by certain mutations. For example, you have your KIT and EGFR mutations, and these characterize approximately 80% to 90% of GIST tumors. That is something that was highlighted on the cover of Time magazine in 2001 when Gleevec first came out. It specifically has KIT as one of its targets, or what we call a tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

When Gleevec was invented, or when it came out, that was a game-changer for patients with GIST, because they previously had no targeted treatment, and now all of a sudden, you are having patients surviving for long periods of time.

References

1. “Breaking Down Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor Basics,” CURE; https://www.curetoday.com/view/breaking-down-gastrointestinal-stromal-tumor-basics
2. “Gleevec,” National Cancer Institute; https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/gleevec

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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